finger and his little finger, and then had glanced along his side, but
without penetrating deeply into his chest. It was the pain rather than
the seriousness of the wound, therefore, which had overcome De Guiche.
Manicamp passed his arm under one of the count's shoulders, and De Wardes
did the same with the other, and in this way they brought him back to
Fontainebleau, to the house of the same doctor who had been present at
the death of the Franciscan, Aramis's predecessor.


Chapter XIV:
The King's Supper.

The king, while these matters were being arranged, was sitting at the
supper-table, and the not very large number of guests for that day had
taken their seats too, after the usual gesture intimating the royal
permission. At this period of Louis XIV.'s reign, although etiquette was
not governed by the strict regulations subsequently adopted, the French
court had entirely thrown aside the traditions of good-fellowship and
patriarchal affability existing in the time of Henry IV., which the
suspicious mind of Louis XIII. had gradually replaced with pompous state
and ceremony, which he despaired of being able fully to realize.

The king, therefore, was seated alone at a small separate table, which,
like the desk of a president, overlooked the adjoining tables. Although
we say a small table, we must not omit to add that this small table was
the largest one there. Moreover, it was the one on which were placed the
greatest number and quantity of dishes, consisting of fish, game, meat,
fruit, vegetables, and preserves. The king was young and full of vigor
and energy, very fond of hunting, addicted to all violent exercises of
the body, possessing, besides, like all the members of the Bourbon